


Promise

by Danger_Mouse



Series: Neverland [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Foster Kid Lexa (The 100), Little Clarke, Little Lexa, remember when scottie dogs used to be on everything?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-31 02:38:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21052343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danger_Mouse/pseuds/Danger_Mouse
Summary: Today is Lexa’s first day in “grown-up” school and her socks are itchy and her sweater is too warm and her leggings have scottie dogs on them and more than anything she wishes she was reading her Boxcar books alone on her new bed with the purple comforter that still smells like the plastic bag it came in from the store.ORA one shot about Lexa and Clarke's first meeting and the beginnings of their friendship.





	Promise

**First Grade**

Lexa’s socks are itchy. The frilly ribbon that her new foster mother had sewn on the cuffs were already threatening to rub her ankles raw. A painful reminder that she hates girly things.  _ Why is it so uncomfortable to be pretty?  _ Not only did Lexa not feel comfortable being dressed up “girly”, but she feared the consequences of going against what her new foster parents wanted from her. Even at her young age, Lexa knew the basics of keeping a low profile. Eat everything they put on your plate. Wear the clothes that they buy you. Laugh at the things they laugh at. Watch and listen to the things they do. Don’t complain. Pick up after yourself. Be as invisible and low maintenance as possible. And most importantly, never let them see how truly wounded she was on the inside. Adults don’t want broken little things that they feel obligated to fix. They want perfect boys and girls to fill the void residing in their hearts or in their pocket books. So today is Lexa’s first day in “grown-up” school and her socks are itchy and her sweater is too warm and her leggings have scottie dogs on them and more than anything she wishes she was reading her Boxcar books alone on her new bed with the purple comforter that still smells like the plastic bag it came in from the store. 

Lexa’s foster mother, Indra, walks her into the unfamiliar building with unfamiliar halls and classrooms and when they reach the wing with finger paintings pinned on the walls and glitter and cotton balls glued on more pieces of students artwork than necessary, Indra points to the colorful door on the right with Lexa’s name written on a picture of a bee cut out and pasted to the door. One bee of many in the class flying around the construction paper covered door. 

“Here we are.” Indra says saccharinely, her palms on Lexa’s back guiding her into the room. Lexa’s eyes can’t seem to open wide enough to take in the party store that must have vomited on the classroom. Letters are strung throughout on banners and giant colorful calendars cling to the walls and charts and color wheels and shapes and even though Lexa would outwardly scoff at the absurdity of the room, the soft child within can’t help but gaze in wonder, barely managing to peek her eyes above the walls Lexa had carefully constructed. 

“Let’s find your seat.” Indra says as she leads the way into the chaos of other students and parents settling in for their first day. 

The desks are more like tables in that they are pushed together to form clusters of excited children and Lexa finds her name on another bee taped to the cluster of desks closest to the chalkboard and what she is assuming, the teacher’s desk. She dutifully sits in her chair and looks up to her foster mother for any further instruction. 

“Ok, Lexa.” Indra kneels down to her level and places a reassuring hand on Lexa’s shoulder. “You’re lunch and all your school gear is in your backpack which is in your cubby by the door.” 

“Yes Ma’am.” Lexa nods. 

“And Gus and I will be here to pick you up when class is over ok?”

“Yes Ma’am.” 

“If you need anything. We’re just a phone call away, ok?”

“Yes Ma’am.” 

Indra stares at Lexa’s for a moment, searching for something in her green eyes that Lexa doesn’t know how to give her. Mostly because she doesn’t know what her new foster mother is looking for. Indra sighs quietly before standing back up and dusting off the knees of her slacks. “One day I’ll get you to call me Indra.” The woman teases as she tucks one of Lexa’s wild curls behind her ear. “But until then. Have a good first day of school and try to have fun.”

“Yes Ma-” Lexa begins to respond before Indra is cutting her off with a raised palm and a stern look. 

“This world is hard, little one, and I know you’ve gone through more than anyone should at your age but...this is a good place. A safe place. Maybe try to have a little fun while you’re here? Let yourself be the child you are for once in a blue moon.” 

Lexa bats her thick lashes to ward away any unwanted tears and looks down into her lap. “Ok, Indra. I’ll try.” 

Indra stoops to drop a reassuring kiss to the top of Lexa’s head before she makes her way out of the classroom, nodding at the other parents in recognition as she goes.

“I like your hair.” A soft voice draws Lexa’s head up. A blonde haired, blue eyed, pink cheeked girl is settling herself into the seat next to Lexa and smiling, showing a missing front tooth. “It’s really curly.”

“Oh uhm.” Lexa nervously runs her hands along the french braid containing the majority of her hair. It was only early morning and the braid had already let quite a few strands of unruly curls loose. “Thank you.” 

The girl smiles even wider in return for Lexa. “I like your teeth.” Lexa says awkwardly. 

“My teeth?” The girl questions, hand moving up to her mouth self consciously. “Are you being mean to me?”

“What? No!” Lexa corrects as she turns fully towards the now red faced blonde sitting next to her. “I...I really like it when kids have missing teeth. It’s exciting. And it means you probably have a quarter coming your way.”

“Oh.” Blue eyes meet green and the little girl straightens in her chair proudly. “I got two whole dollars for this tooth. Dad said it was probably ‘cause it’s a front tooth. That and the tooth fairy would be proud of how I lost it.” 

“How did you lose it?” Lexa asks.

“I fell out of the tree.” The girl beams. “But only from the bottom branch. And it was loose anyways.” 

“Oh.” Lexa doesn’t really know what else to say. She wants to tell the girl that the tooth fairy isn’t real but that it was still nice of her parents to give her two dollars. 

“I’m Clarke.” The blonde says, jutting out a hand with sparkly blue nail polish. “Dad says you’re supposed to shake a person’s hand when you meet them.”

Lexa smiles softly and reaches out her own hand out to clasp the warm and kind of sticky palm extended to her. “I like your name, Clarke. I’m Lexa.” 

  
  


**Eight Months Later**

Lexa is sitting in the bark of the playset with the spring sun beating down on her. She’s cold but warm at the same time and wishing she had her jacket she had decided to leave on the coat hook above her cubby in class. 

“How come you don’t look like your mom or dad?” A boy in her class asks as he stands menacingly over her. “My mom says it’s not nice to ask but I don’t see why.” 

“Well.” Lexa starts but feels her throat constrict and immediately start to get sore. “I...I uh.”

“You uh uh uh?” The boy mocks. “What?” He nudges a pile of bark at Lexa with his foot. “Mom says you’re probably adopted but my dad says your look more like they found you feral in the woods, whatever that means.” 

“Finn!” A familiar voice calls across the playground. “You leave her be Finn Collins or I’ll tell your mother about showing Mackenzie your weiner last summer at her birthday party.” 

Finn spins towards Clarke stomping towards them. “You would not!”

“I would to! Just watch!” Clarke fumes as she comes up to the dark haired boy and jabs a finger into his chest. “You leave my friend alone. It doesn’t matter who she looks like or who her real parents are, as long as she is loved.” 

“Did your hippy dippy parents teach you that, Princess?” Finn says defiantly as he swats away the blondes finger. 

“It doesn’t matter who taught me that as long as it’s right!” Clarke yells back. “Now leave us alone before I tell everyone how little Mackenzie said it was.” 

“Whatever.” Finn growls as he kicks more bark at Lexa before stalking off. But not without earning a swift push from Clarke for his actions. 

“What a jerk.” Clarke growls as she kneels in front of Lexa, brushing away bits of bark from her clothes. 

“Yeah.” Lexa says dully, trying to look anywhere but at the blue eyes she had grown so fond of the past months. 

“Really, Lex. Finn’s the only one who cares that you don’t look like your mom. He’s a stupid boy that is probably being mean to you because he thinks you’re cute. That’s what my dad said at least. I don’t really get it but anyways, you don’t need to-”

“She’s not my mom.” Lexa cuts Clarke off and she can feel tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “And I’m not adopted.” 

“Oh. Ok.” Clarke says as she settles criss cross applesauce facing Lexa. 

“She’s my foster mom.” Lexa waits for Clarke’s response but all she sees is acceptance in her friends face so she let’s the words that she had been dying to say flow from her mouth. “She’s my foster mom because my birth mother died from drugs and the people we were living with tried to trade me for more drugs but they didn’t know the people they were trading me with were cops so they took me away and I’ve been in foster care ever since.” 

“That’s…Lexa, I…” Clarke’s blue eyes bore into Lexa’s, absorbing all the new information. 

“And the tooth fairy isn’t real, Clarke.’’ Lexa adds. “ You’re mom and dad put the money under your pillow.” If she’s sharing all her truths she might as well add on this one too. Especially with the amount of teeth Clarke had been losing lately. 

“I know.” Clarke responds softly. 

“You know?”

“I didn’t know if you knew that the tooth fairy wasn’t real and I didn’t want to ruin it for you.” Clarke explains as a fat tear rolls down her cheek swiftly followed by silent others. 

“Oh no, oh Clarke, I’m sorry.” Lexa scrambles at the sight of Clarke’s tears and forgets her own in the process of scrambling from her hind quarters to on her knees in front of the crying blonde. “Please don’t cry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I shouldn’t have said that stuff about the tooth fairy or my real mom.” Lexa reaches out a trembling hand to wipe away Clarke’s tears when her wrist is caught mid-air by Clarke’s own. 

“I’m not crying ‘cause you hurt my feelings, Lex.” Clarke explains from under wet eyelashes. 

“Then why are you crying?” 

“Because people have hurt you. People hurt you and I wasn’t there to protect you.” Clarke sucks in a steadying breath before looking intently into Lexa’s confused gaze. “Can I hug you?” 

The question startles Lexa and all she can do is nod her head in return. It’s only after Clarke had wrapped her arms around Lexa tightly and held her in her safe embrace that Lexa felt brave enough to ask for something from someone in a very long time. 

“Clarke, will you promise to always be this nice to me?” Lexa whispers into blonde hair.

“I promise, Lex.” Clarke whispers back. “Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> All mistakes are mine own and thanks for reading :)


End file.
